Rain
by Subkulture
Summary: After Lucy's death, Gray is forced to raise his daughter without her guidance. Even though the infant hasn't cried since she was born, Acacia can still smile, keeping her father going through the dark days. / Sequel to 'Don't Go'


**Rain**

_-Fairy Tail-_

**-R-**

When Gray brought Acacia home there was no happy celebration, no collection of friends and no other. It was a sad day.

His daughter hadn't cried since the day she was born. The only way anyone had known when she was hungry or uncomfortable was instinct. She was fed at regular hours with formula milk and nurses had been all too happy to coach Gray on how to be a good parent. They taught him everything from how to get her to sleep to how to change her diapers. He appreciated it and thanked them appropriately. Though the longer he lingered in the hospital the harder it was for him to bare. That was the place where he lost his girlfriend.

The entire guild was still in mourning. Though they tried to push on the movement was sluggish. Lucy was very loved.

The funeral was held yesterday, and the cemetery was crowded with people she met. Somehow, with the help of the guild and others, they had bought back the Heartfilia land and gave it back to the servants. The quarters that Gray and Natsu had called a town had now become just that, and the celestial mage was buried with her mother. It was the least they could do. Every member of the guild was a treasure. Whenever one died everyone did their part to help them be remembered.

Despite the tribute, it was still hard to bare. Gray couldn't hold Acacia that day.

The ice mage swallowed a lump in his throat and pushed the door open. The house was dim, but not empty. Natsy, Happy and Erza sat inside. From the entrance Gray couldn't see them but they had been courteous enough to inform the mage that they would be there when he got back. Natsu and Erza were Acacia's godparents. They were always welcome.

No words were spoken. Gray shuffled around the kitchen in search of formula milk. He didn't even hear Erza when she walked up behind him, passing him a bottle. He muttered a small thanks and settled down on the sofa to feed the infant.

"What will you do now?" Natsu asked, bravely. Gray didn't look up to meet his friends gaze. Acacia content look as she swallowed mouthful after mouthful was brightening his mood, if only a little. It didn't make these things any easier to talk about, though.

"I don't know," he said finally. "Bob and Marsha offered to take care of Acacia when I'm away but I can't raise her like Lucy could have."

"The most you can do is try, Gray. You'll make a good father." That was Erza.

Gray pulled the bottle from her with a small pop. It had only been half full, but she had almost inhaled it. Acacia's muteness was inconvenient. She had obviously been hungry. As she was now though, she couldn't let them know.

"I will. But..." But little Acacia would still be growing up without a mother. He, and Natsu, and Erza all knew what it was like to be without a parent. His died in a demon attack and he was taken in by Ul who had raised him as her son, but that still left him lacking. She could never have replaced his real mother and his father was forever gone. Natsu had been raised by a dragon, Igneel. He never knew who his human parents were and a male dragon could never have the same touch as a human mother – or any mother. And Erza had been jailed; she had only known the people in her cell.

A tiny hand pawed at his face, he looked down to see his new born wearing a worried look. Gray took her hand in his and smiled. Natsu laughed.

The dragon slayer had been looking at the kid almost longingly. Erza had a similar look too, which scared Gray. Erza was good with kids. Gray feared what Natsu could do. The look in both their eyes was unmistakeably love.

He waggled the bottle in front of the fire mage, ready to test his faith in his friend. "There's still some formula left. Wanna feed her?"

Natsu's face lit up and he quickly took a seat at his friends side. Carefully they switched Acacia over to the mage. She rested in the crook of his arm, cooing up at him and relaxing in the warmth. Gray wouldn't be the only one to make a good father.

**-R-**

The park was a nice place to go for a walk in Magnolia. It was the borderline between spring and summer when the days were warm and the nights were cool, and the bugs were missing in action. Gray sat on the side of a grassy hill with little Acacia between his legs. The water lapped at the a sandy strip in front of them and Acacia tried to tumble toward it.

She couldn't crawl yet, she hadn't even tried. Some of the guild had placed bets on when she would be walking. They did it with every newborn child. Gray had bet that she wouldn't be up and walking until after her first year, even though some where walking at less. At the rate she was going now, just over two months old, Gray would win that bet.

But she was expressive and honest. If she didn't like something she'd push it away, or make a face. Those faces were so akin to Lucy that the ice mage wondered if she had reproduced with herself.

On the other hand, Acacia couldn't wear a shirt for longer then ten minutes without trying to rip it off yet. She still couldn't manage it, only pulling at the clothe, but the day would come. It was a habit Erza was trying to break.

"So this is where you're to," came an unmistakeable voice. Gray turned to see Acacia's godfather in all his pink haired glory.

"Natsu." Gray greeted.

"Gray."

The fire mage squatted down next to his opposite with a sigh and Acacia was quick to try and get to him. He smiled, lifting her over Gray's leg and into his lap. There was a long cut on his cheek that hadn't been there last week.

"How'd the mission go?"

"Alright."

Whenever Gray got the chance, he would ask about the missions. He missed them with a passion. He missed the danger and the fights, but his duty to Acacia trumped all of that. The little girl was Lucy's – and his – living legacy. But that didn't stop him from dreamy of the day when he could head out again.

Not going on missions hadn't stopped his training though. He and Natsu and Erza had paired up countless times; Gray still had a sore shoulder because of Erza, and a large burn on his leg thanks to Natsu. Natsu had frost-burn to match. Erza didn't have any bruises.

Gray poked Natsu for more detail.

The fire mage was too happy to oblige. "This old guy wanted his garden protected from these... I don't know what they were, exactly, but they were big. He showed me the footprints and they were half the size of my and shaped like hooves."

"Giant horses?"

"Yeah, sure. Anyway, he promised me that if I stayed there overnight I'd see them and then I'd be able to beat them up. Once he saw that they would never be back he would pay me. I fought them three times before they decided not to come back."

"So you fought them but you didn't know what they were?"

"I've never seen a giant horse before," he scowled. Acacia was attempting to pull off his scarf and he wrapped her in the end of it. She happily curled up inside of it, snuggling against his hip.

Now it was Gray's turn to scowl, only his was directed to his daughter. "She never goes to sleep that fast with me. And she keeps me up all night because of it."

Natsu sneered at this. "Maybe she just likes me better."

"She's just uses you for your heat," Gray retorted, pleased when he heard the little girl give an affirmative mewl. "You're just a tool."

The dragon slayer punched Gray's arm lightly and both men laughed. Age hadn't deadened the insults they threw at each other, but now they were lighter and neither mage hit the other randomly. What serious bouts they did get into were quickly remedied by Erza, or Acacia. The baby didn't like fighting and even though she still didn't cry she was all too happy with throwing something at her father. The spring child lived on 'I don't care who started it, I'll finish it'. Gray feared they day she'll start throwing celestial spirits at him inside of her baby bottle.

"Did you hear about the S-class mage that went missing in Lamia Scale?" Natsu asked lightly, his eyes glued to the water.

"Yeah. Lyon told me about it. They were friends." There was more to it then just Lyon being friends. He was the third in a short line of S-classes to go missing and, even though the disappearance were fairly random beyond their class, it still had all the guilds on edge. "He's hunting down the culprit now. I think he can get them."

Natsu's face split. "They're in for a sorry surprise if they think they'll get anyone in Fairy Tail. We'll kick all their asses." Gray raised an eyebrow, looking pointedly down at Acacia who was pretending to be asleep. "Sorry."

"You're right though. Just because the old man's retired, doesn't mean that we're any weaker. And now that Gildarts is back from his mission..." He let the sentence hang. Neither mage needed to be reminded of how powerful the brute had become. Magnolia had to reinstall a new anti-Gildarts system before he returned. He had only gotten stronger with age.

The reassurance that the guild was safe, however, didn't stop Gray from wondering why they were doing that in the first place.

**-R-**

Gray's house was dark.

That was the one thing he noted as he weaved ice between his fingers.

There was a collection of ice sculptures sitting a the table. He sold them to Bob and Marsha who in turn sold them as trinkets. Though he and Lucy had managed to get enough money saved up to support them both comfortably for a good year (even though funeral expenses had stolen a good deal of it) a little extra cash helped. And forming ice that never melted was difficult; any difficult magic was what he considered to be good practice.

Acacia was upstairs sleeping and Gray had his ears tuned, waiting for the sound of something clattering around in her cradle. Because she didn't cry he always left something noisy close to her. That way, if she wanted something she could use that to summon him. It was a method that worked, but the child had religiously woken Gray up at three in the morning since he started doing that. He was under the impression that she did not like her father.

He smiled at the thought as he set down the last ornament. Fifteen miniature figurines lay out in front of him. There were flowers and cats and pottery, all of which were requested my Marsha herself. He lifted up one of the flowers, an extra one that he had made for his daughter. This species was Acacia's namesake.

A window smashed in the kitchen.

Gray lurched to his feet as smoke filled the room. He cursed and bolted for the stairs, absently noting how random an attack was before all thoughts turned to his daughter. If she was in trouble she couldn't cry.

The ice mage lurched up the steps, wondering when they had gotten so long. Then a strong grip appeared at his ankle, it tugged and he flew back, hitting his head off the stairs. The impact was harsh enough to draw blood. He cursed as mechanical limbs wrapped around his throat, his hands held tactically apart.

Air stopped. He couldn't breathe. The grip on his throat was too strong, it pinched the tubes of his throat together painfully. Fingers clawed against wood, black flowers blossomed in his vision.

He was going to _die_.

He was too young to die. He had a daughter to look out for. She needed a father. She had already lost her mother.

The thing gripping his neck was cold and biting and lifted him up slowly. Only to slam his face into the wood, making his world go black.

**-R-**

Natsu hadn't seen Gray for days and he was worried. The ice mage was always going in and out of the guild. When he wasn't there he was normally at Bob and Marsha's or at the park with Acacia. This absence wasn't right. So he headed to Gray's house to wrestle out the reason why.

When he first entered the house he found it empty. Only it wasn't just empty because it looked empty. It _felt_ empty. There was no homely feel of 'lived in' that should have been there. It was like all essence of Gray had been wiped from the place.

Slowly, Natsu crept in. He eyed the statues on the coffee table. The surface was clean.

Then he heard it. A whimpering cry had pierced the air and he knew who it was. Acacia. The child who never cried was now doing just that. It blew caution away.

The fire mage took the stairs two at a time, landing in front of Acacia's room in seconds. She was alone, her face was pale and malnourished, like she hadn't eaten in days. Dark rings hung under her eyes and when Natsu picked her up she felt light. Too light.

"Where's Gray, Acacia? Where's your father?" he whispered like she could answer him. She just cried more, clinging to his chest with tiny fists. He pulled her in close with a heavy heart. He knew exactly what happened. Gray, the S-class mage was gone.

* * *

A/N: The sequel to Don't Go. People have been asking for it and even though I didn't get the 10 reviews to post and it hasn't been a month I just wanted to see what people would say.

Sorry for the ending! Don't kill me : Gray's NOT DEAD. (Now Natsu has to raise Acacia. The poor child o.o - at least she'll eat healthy.)

Review's are welcomed :)

Thanks to MiyuTanemura for beta'ing this. Merci, darling. :P


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